May 24, 2012
Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov
Alan Zack
X Prize Foundation, Playa Vista, Calif.
310-741-4880
alan.zack@xprize.org
RELEASE: 12-168
NASA OFFERS GUIDELINES TO PROTECT HISTORIC SITES ON THE MOON
WASHINGTON -- NASA and the X Prize Foundation of Playa Vista, Calif.,
announced Thursday the Google Lunar X Prize is recognizing guidelines
established by NASA to protect lunar historic sites and preserve
ongoing and future science on the moon. The foundation will take the
guidelines into account as it judges mobility plans submitted by 26
teams vying to be the first privately-funded entity to visit the
moon.
NASA recognizes that many spacefaring nations and commercial entities
are on the verge of landing spacecraft on the moon. The agency
engaged in a cooperative dialogue with the X Prize Foundation and the
Google Lunar X Prize teams to develop the recommendations. NASA and
the next generation of lunar explorers share a common interest in
preserving humanity's first steps on another celestial body and
protecting ongoing science from the potentially damaging effects of
nearby landers.
NASA assembled the guidelines using data from previous lunar studies
and analysis of the unmanned lander Surveyor 3's samples after Apollo
12 landed nearby in 1969. Experts from the historic, scientific and
flight-planning communities also contributed to the technical
recommendations. The guidelines do not represent mandatory U.S. or
international requirements. NASA provided them to help lunar mission
planners preserve and protect historic lunar artifacts and potential
science opportunities for future missions.
The Google Lunar X Prize will award $30 million total in prizes. First
place will go to a privately-funded team that builds a rover which
lands successfully on the moon, explores it by moving at least one
third of a mile and returns high-definition video and imagery to
Earth.
Additional bonus prizes will be awarded for photographing a Lunar
Heritage, Apollo or Surveyor spacecraft site. The contest ends
whenever all prizes are claimed or at the end of 2015.
To view the full set of guidelines, visit:
http://go.nasa.gov/JDYo9v
For more information about the X Prize Foundation, visit:
http://www.xprize.org
For more information about the Google Lunar X Prize, visit:
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org
For a lunar exploration timeline, visit:
http://go.nasa.gov/Mk2Ms7
-end-